Director
Director
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Maria Kyrarini is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and David Packard Jr. Faculty Fellow at Santa Clara University (SCU). She leads the Human-Machine Interaction & Innovation (HMI2) research group which has been supported by federal (NSF) and SCU internal grants. Prior to SCU, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Heracleia Human-Centered Computing Lab at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 2019, she received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bremen under the supervision of Professor Dr.-Eng. Axel Gräser. Before that, she received her M.Eng. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and her M.Sc. degree in Automation Systems both from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Her primary research interests are in the fields of Robot Learning from Demonstrations, Human-Robot Interaction, and Assistive Robotics with a special focus on enhancing Human Performance.
Ph.D. Students
Ph.D. Students
Manizheh Zand is an enthusiastic engineer with an MS degree in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University. She has co-founded www.mymentortree.org, a non-profit corporation with a vision of building self-esteem and passion for STEM technology within underserved students. In the past, Manizheh has held positions as a Tenure Track Engineering Instructor, Adjunct Faculty, and Embedded Hardware Design Engineer. She was a co-founder of a school for developmentally disabled people and co-founder of a Commercial Construction Corporation. She studied Petroleum Engineering at the Sharif University of Technology. Manizheh is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini.
Hambal Tella received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and a research-based master's program in Electrical Engineering with his thesis focused on deep learning algorithms from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Santa Clara University, USA, in industrial robotics and dynamic task allocation under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini.
Kajal Awasthi received her M.S. degree in Robotics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Her background includes robotics, perception, and human–robot interaction, with experience in robot learning and multimodal interaction systems. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at Santa Clara University, USA, under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini. Her research interests focus on human–robot interaction, cognitive and social robotics, and adaptive robot behavior for collaborative and assistive systems.
Phuong Cao earned her Bachelor of Science from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota, followed by a Master of Science from the University of Notre Dame. Currently, she is advancing her academic career as a Ph.D. student at Santa Clara University, where she conducts research under the guidance of Dr. Maria Kyrarini. Her scholarly work is centered on the evolving field of human-robot interaction (HRI), with a specific interest in developing intuitive and impactful ways for humans and machines to collaborate.
M.Sc. Students
M.Sc. Students
Ramya Bhaskar is a Master's student in Electrical and Computer Engineering with interests in Cognitive Fatigue and AI for robotic applications. Currently, her research involves using reinforcement learning for human-computer interaction. Outside of school, she enjoys classical music, hiking and exploring different places.
Alumni
Alumni
PhD Students:
Krishna Kodur, PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2026, Thesis: “MIRA: A Multitasking Intelligent Robotic Assistant Supporting Activities of Daily Living" - Next stop: SCU Robotic Systems Lab (RSL)
MS Thesis Students:
Nicholas Kenny, MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2026, Thesis: "Seeing the Intent: Human Intent Prediction for Shared Control Applications" - Next stop: Reliable Robotics
Luca Chierotti, MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2026, Thesis: "Automated Freestyle Stroke Count and Phase Detection via Synthetic Video Data for Competitive Swimming Applications"
Aidan O’Hare, MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2025, Thesis: "Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Multi-Robot Collaboration"
Sofia Nedorosleva, MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2024, Thesis: "Translucent Object and Automated 6D Pose Annotation Method for Robotic Manipulation" - Next stop: Zscaler
MS Research/Capstone Students:
Vincent Ying, MS in Robotics and Automation, 2026
Aly Khater, MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2025 - Next stop: NVIDIA
Prajyot Patil, MS in Robotics and Automation, 2025 - Next stop: Meta
George Kouretas, MS in Robotics and Automation, 2025 - Next stop: Maven Robotics
Cinthya Jauregui, MS in Engineering Management and Leadership, 2023
Undergraduate Research Students:
Maya Murphy, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2025 - Next stop: Ecorobotix
Michael Mishkanian, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2025 - Next stop: Apple
Matthew Tognotti, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2024
Julia Lang, Computer Science, 2024 - Next stop: Salesforce
Aidan O'Hare, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2024 - Next stop: Fully-funded MS @ Santa Clara University
Christopher Phan, Computer Science/Mathematics, 2024 - Next stop: MS @ Santa Clara University
Neena Ekanathan, Computer Science and Engineering, 2023 - Next stop: Palo Alto Networks
Justin Sun, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2023 - Next stop: MS @ University of Washington
Senior Design Teams
Senior Design Teams
AY 2025-2026
• Viet Ha (CSEN), Harry Ying (ECEN), Ayden Dauenhauer (ECEN) - Project: "Smart Walker for Gait Monitoring and Assessment", Advisor: Maria Kyrarini
• Kieran Pazmino (CSEN, ELEN), Akira Zone (MECH, ELEN), Rose Toy (MECH, ELEN), Cyrus Wong (MECH) - Project: "MECHA-KALDR: An Assistive Robotic Dog", Advisors: Maria Kyrarini, Andrew Wolfe (ECEN), and Sthanu Mahadev (MECH)
AY 2024-2025
Maya Murphy (ECEN), Michael Mishkanian (ECEN) - Project: "Ergonomic Human Robot Handovers Using Surface Electromyography (sEMG) Sensors", Advisors: Maria Kyrarini and Fatemeh Davoudi Kakhki (MECH)
Lucas Amlicke (CSEN), Raphael Kusuma (CSEN), Cole Heider (ECEN), Kayleigh Vu (CSEN), Monica Sommer (CSEN) - Project: "EMGVocal Translations", Advisors: Ahmed Amer (CSEN) and Maria Kyrarini
Megan Choy (CSEN), Lauren Hu (CSEN), Ivan Kuo (ELEN), Zhiyuan Leo Chen (ECEN) - Project: "Integrating Vision and Language Models for Intelligent Robotic Mobile Manipulation", Advisors: Hoeseok Yang (ECEN), Maria Kyrarini, and Ahmed Amer (CSEN)
Awawu Alimi (ECEN), Urmika Ghosh (ECEN), Marissa Kuo (CSEN/ECEN), Jonathan Santosa (CSEN), Ethan Wyrick (ECEN) - Project: "Piloted Autonomous Crisis Reconnaissance Robot 2.0 (PACRR 2.0)", Advisors: Maria Kyrarini, Andrew Wolfe (ECEN), and Ahmed Amer (CSEN)
AY 2023-2024
Aidan O’Hare (ECEN), Luca Chierotti (ECEN), Nicholas Kenny (CSEN), Tyler Costello (CSEN) - Project: "PACRR - Piloted Autonomous Crisis Reconnaissance Robot", Advisors: Maria Kyrarini, Andrew Wolfe (ECEN), and Ahmed Amer (CSEN)
Zichen Huang (ECEN), Wesley Tu (CSEN) - Project: "Robot Playing Soccer", Advisors: Maria Kyrarini and Ahmed Amer (CSEN)
Matt Tognotti (ECEN) - Project: "Assistive Mobile Manipulator for People with Limited Mobility", Advisor: Maria Kyrarini
AY 2022-2023
Aly Khater (ELEN), Justin Sun (ECEN), Fernando Camou (ECEN) - Project: "HERMES: The Socially Assistive Tour-Guiding Robot", Advisor: Maria Kyrarini
AY 2021-2022
Laurence Kim (ECEN), Quinton Turner (ELEN), Isaiah Youngblood (ECEN) - Project: "B2B2: LiDAR 2D Mapping Rover", Advisors: Maria Kyrarini and Sally Wood (ECEN)
*ECEN: Electrical & Computer Engineering, ELEN: Electrical Engineering, CSEN: Computer Science and Engineering, MECH: Mechanical Engineering
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